Education, society and politics in Central Asia

More on higher education quality in Kyrgyzstan

Central Asian news agency CA-News reports on a forthcoming roundtable discussion in Kyrgyzstan on methodological issues in academic research [report below in Russian].

The roundtable will focus on issues relating to the quality of dissertation research in Kyrgyzstan and aims to present recommendations to improve both the quality and effectiveness of what the press release calls ‘scientific production’ with a view to raising standards in dissertation research. I will be interested to learn more about these recommendations.

The roundtable is being co-organised by the National Academy of Sciences, the Higher Attestation Commission of Kyrgyzstan (a government agency responsible for certifying academic work, including awarding the higher academic degrees of kandidat nauk and doktor nauk), the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavonic University, the Manas Kyrgyz-Turkish University and the Union of Scientists in Kyrgyzstan. This mix of state and private agencies should create an interesting atmosphere and one in which I hope a range of perspectives can be considered in working collectively to improve academic standards in Kyrgyzstan.

Visualising the blog

The current icon for my blog is this stunning building, which these days houses the Kazakh British Technical University in the centre of Almaty, Kazakhstan. In Soviet times, it was the National Parliament building. You gotta love how history turns out!